London, Sep 16 (IANS) A third of the global population is malnourished, a report said.
“When one in three of us is held back due to malnutrition, we as families, communities, and nations can not move forward,” Lawrence Haddad, lead author of the Global Nutrition Report said.
One in three members of the global population is malnourished, and the problem exists in every country on the planet, Xinhua cited the report to be released on September 22 in New York City.
“Too often people think of malnutrition as just a problem of hungry kids in the poorest countries, but this report shows that malnutrition has many forms and affects all countries, rich and poor alike,” said Corinna Hawkes, co-author of the report on Tuesday.
“The coexistence of nutritional problems associated with extreme deprivation and obesity is the real face of malnutrition.”
Even if the global present situation may be worrying, China has made a great progress in overcoming malnutrition, Haddad, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said on Tuesday.
Haddad said the five “C” would resolve the problem — Commitment, Coherence, Coverage, Cash and Collection of data, which need governments, businesses, donors, NGOs and citizens to cooperate closely.
Governments should play an important role in the course to make commitments, lead coherence, spend funds, make sure the utmost coverage of programs and monitor the welfare.
“Businesses can regard health and transparency as a market defining and leading proposition and make health something they put centrally in their products. Businesses can also publish data on their activities and performance,” Haddad said.
The timing of the report is particularly important as UN member states convene to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals later this month.
Malnutrition is tied to many of the proposed goals – and when 45 percent of all deaths of children under five are related to malnutrition, it is critical that leaders keep nutrition policy at the forefront of their decision-making.
IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries, established in 1975, headquartered in Washington.
